Graphic Designers vs. Advertisers

Last year I had a roommate who was in the advertising program. She liked to say that she had alot of the same work our program did and that in the end graphic design and advertising were the same. However, in my observance she had  half the amount of homework and such that our program did. Considering, her social life.. Anyways this made me curious to find the differences and similarites between the two.

After reading several peoples opinions from various sites. Many people do not know the difference or even know that there is one. Many say that graphic designers and advertising work hand in and hand. While some say that graphic design is an ad full with stuff in it. i.e. crampped with products, etc, etc, whereas advertising is an ad with lots of white space or you let your mind do the walking, focusing on 1 image alone. Or that Advertising designs Ideas, and Graphic Designers “puts them on paper.” Which, are not right.

After looking for a statement closer to the truth involving advertising vs graphic design this is what I found.

“The word ‘advertising’, like ‘commercial art’, makes some graphic designers cringe. To certain people in the creative industry, it signifies all that sophisticated contemporary graphic design, or rather visual communications, is not supposed to be. Advertising is the tool of capitalism that often works as a form of communication that entices and persuades public to consume. Graphic design, by contrast, is an aesthetic and philosophical pursuit that communicates ideas. Graphic design is a cultural force that incorporates parallel world views. Where advertising is quite hypnotically invasive, graphic design makes no such claim.”
http://designtaxi.com/article/105/Advertising-Vs-Graphic-Design/ -> for the rest of the aritcle